by Midge Wood
Disclaimer: Excepting the parents, these characters are not mine. They belong to Fox and Real Time Productions.
Author's Notes: Big galloping thanks to Rachel for beta-ing this fic for me, and to her and shellebelle for letting me brainstorm out loud. God bless and enjoy:)
Tony Almeida first met Jack Bauer when he was six years old. Jack was thirteen. They were sitting on opposite ends of a room, at opposite sides of a table, sitting against opposite walls as four people did business at a table in the center of the room. Two of the people were Tony's parents; the other two were their lawyers. Papers lined the space between the two parties at the table as Tony's father tapped a pen against the wooden surface impatiently.
The younger boy's understanding of the events of the table was very basic. He knew his mother and father were making an important decision, and that his father would move to California with Jack and Jack's mother when it was done. Being six, Tony did not fully comprehend the implications of this. He accepted it with a nod and an "Okay" when he first heard of it from his mother, but he did not understand that it was quite possible that he would never see his father again, nor that his interactions with his father would not extend beyond a few cards and phone calls per year.
Neither could Tony put himself in the mind of his older counterpart. He glanced briefly at Jack, notching the boy's frown and concluding that he must be sad. Tony could not think of a reason for Jack to be upset. His father was the most wonderful person in the world; if he were staying with them for a time, there was no reason for Jack to be sad. Tony's observations were distracted when his parents and his lawyers stood up and exchanged handshakes. His mother turned and scooped Tony up in her arms, carrying him out of the room without a word to his father. Tony was confused. Weren't they going to say goodbye? The last thing he saw in that room was Jack's mother running up to embrace and kiss his father.
For the longest time, Tony believed that his father was going to come back, that he had moved to California to do some special service for Jack and his mother. Perhaps they were poor. Perhaps Jack was sick and wanted to meet a journalist before he died. He had heard of things like that, and thought it within reason for his father to do something charitable for a poor sick boy in California. Tony accepted this, and waited patiently for his father to return, not noticing the tears his mother failed to hide as she trudged through life daily without a husband. He did not notice, nor come up with an explanation for, his mother's new, busy schedule that kept her at work longer than normal, or his mother's perpetual exhaustion day after day that kept her grounded on the couch where she could keep an eye on Tony.
Tony's logic kept him sane for six months. That's as long as his mother's finances could keep them in the house without a struggle. It became apparent to his mother that she could no longer afford the house and that they must move to a cheaper, and less attractive, apartment in the city. Tony did not understand. Why were they moving when his father would come back? Wouldn't he be confused when he returned? Wouldn't he start to worry and call out a search team to find him? Tony's mother sat him down amid a stack of cardboard boxes and said, "Antonio, your father is not coming back."
He still did not understand. Perhaps he did not want to understand. Tony's mother put her hands on his shoulder and continued, "Antonio, that day in court…I know you think it's only temporary, but it's not. When your papa moved to California, he moved there to stay."
"Why?" asked Tony.
His mother lowered her head and slowly diverted her eyes. She looked sad, and angry. "Your papa moved so he could marry someone else." She looked back to Tony, and placed one of her hands on his cheek. "You remember the woman and her son?"
Tony nodded.
She bit her lip. "Your papa married her. He has a new life now, Antonio. A new wife, a new son…he doesn't need us anymore." Her voice shook. "We're on our own now, Antonio. Your papa is not coming back."
"But…" The quivering voice must have been an infectious disease. Tony's voice was shaking, too. He felt his eyes warm with the heat of the fresh tears that were brewing. "Papa's not coming back?"
His mother shook her head. "No, Antonio. He's not coming back."
The realization hit him like a sea of red dodge balls falling on his body. No papa. No house. No baseball games, no Cubs, no Sunday afternoons at the movies after Mass, nobody to sneak up on him and tickle him until he was in tears…he had only tears, and no papa. If Tony had any intention of blaming his mother, it was washed away the moment he looked into her tearful eyes. He let himself be taken into her arms as she hugged him and rocked him as he wept. He didn't know how long he cried; he only knew it ended when his mother asked if he wanted some ice cream. Both of them red-eyed and wet-cheeked, Tony and his mother emerged from their house and walked to nearest ice cream store, where she bought him an ice cream cone topped with two scoops of chocolaty goodness.
From that moment on, Tony knew he had only to rely on his mother, and that he had only to do things to make her happy to keep himself happy. Whenever he returned home with a good report card and a glowing report from his teacher, and saw the joy it brought to his mother's face, he was satisfied. He didn't need to go to a Cubs game or a movie anymore, although that helped, both personally and socially. His rapport with his classmates had gone down after his father had left. He no longer had the leverage of free Chicago Cubs tickets to keep himself in the upper echelon of the school's social hierarchy. His sudden embrace of academics and books killed his reputation as one of the coolest kids in the school; he was rejected as being a nerd. As long as he had his mother to inspire and support him, Tony didn't care.
It wasn't the same for Jack back in California. His first experience with heartache was his father's suicide, which had been a direct result of his wife's affair with Tony's father. The moment Jack found out about this he wrote his mother off as someone who deserved affection. He ceased to be the perfect son, strove to irritate his mother by doing rebellious and daring things outside of school. He couldn't jeopardize his school career, he knew, for that was one of the tickets he could use to remove himself from his mother.
Jack was not too fond of Tony's father, either. He tried too hard to impress Jack with his money and his connections. Jack could not have cared less. Jack was only interested in Tony. Feeling guilty, Jack tried to reach out to Tony, using his stepfather's scheduled phone calls to chat with the boy. Tony's behavior on the phone was most curious. For six months Tony was kind and enthusiastic to talk to him; afterwards he seemed eager to hang up after the phone was handed to Jack. Jack figured that somewhere along the line Tony had finally understood what had happened with their parents and had placed everyone in the new Bauer-Almeida household on his to-hate list. This made all efforts to reconcile himself to Tony very difficult—that is, until Tony's mother died.
Tony's mother had become very ill when Tony turned seven. She had to quit her job and move in with her parents. Tony did not like this very much. They were too strict when it came to school and church and made Tony get up early every morning so that they could go to church to say the Rosary. He understood they did this for his mother, but he didn't very well appreciate losing an hour of precious sleep. Suffice it to say, after days and days of praying the Rosary, and after days and days of being the center of a custody battle, and after days and days of crying and wishing his mother would come back, Tony experienced his first taste of futility. He was too young to question God, too young to be angry with his Creator for stealing his mother. He only knew that his mother was in heaven, and that he would have to accept it through his tears.
Tony moved in with his father, stepmother and stepbrother when he was eight. Jack was fifteen, as rebellious as ever, finding himself frequently at odds with Tony's father in regards to Tony. Now faced with the physical presence of his son, Tony's father could no longer regulate him to phone calls and holiday cards. He was now faced with the harrowing prospect of being a father to Tony again, something he was reluctant to do, if only because guilt made it so. Jack countered his stepfather's efforts with an aggressive appeal to his and Tony's brotherhood. Tony rejected both offers of companionship. He locked himself in his room and kept himself company with his homework and the old toys his mother had bought him. While Tony's father failed to recognize this as a complete write-off and a total obstacle to his efforts to love his son through money, Jack let Tony be.
It was Jack's method that worked the best. Tony must have sensed there was no falsehood in Jack's efforts to bond with him, so he slowly gravitated towards Jack. Jack would often find Tony thumbing through his book collection while he was away. When Jack would knock on the door, Tony would make a speedy exit, not explaining why he was in Jack's room and looking at his books. Tony was an observant kid; he picked up that Jack simply did not care if he borrowed a few books, not when Jack so freely invited Tony in by leaving his bedroom door wide open for Tony to enter. Without exchanging words, they had come to an agreement and even a method: Tony would just knock if he wanted to come in and take a book.
The first real conversation Tony and Jack had was over a book Jack had to read for school. The Great Gatsby. Jack was rather amused that Tony took an interest in the book; he had only ever expressed interesting science fiction before. Jack, who was doing homework at the time, distracted himself and said, "I think you're too young for that."
Tony shrugged. "I don't want to read it," he said. "I'm just looking." He flipped over the book and read the back page summary. "Are there any aliens in it?"
Jack laughed. "No. Definitely no aliens. I had to read that book for school. I don't think they let you read books about aliens in school."
"Sure they do! My English teacher, Miss Graham, she lets us read whatever we want for our monthly book reports."
"Let me guess, you always read the ones with aliens?"
Tony nodded. He had a big grin on his face. Jack smiled. He rarely saw Tony happy. Jack removed himself from the bed and walked over to the bookshelf. "You want to read something cool?" Jack looked back at Tony.
"Sure." He sat up, curious.
Jack scanned through his collection and pulled out one book: The War of the Worlds. He handed it to Tony. "If you want to read something cool…"
"Does it have aliens in it?" Tony flipped over the book to read the summary.
"Yeah. Lots of mean, scary aliens."
Tony's head shot up. He was really smiling now. "Cool!"
Jack walked back over to the bed and sat down. Now that Tony was talking to him in complete sentences, Jack decided to extend his offer of brotherhood. "Look, Tony," he said, "if you ever want to talk, I'm here."
"Talk about what?"
"Anything."
Tony nodded. "All right."
Jack feared Tony would not take his offer, that the book conversation was a one-time-only event and that he would never experience Tony's conversation again. Tony surprised Jack: he did take his offer after a rough day at school. Jack was doing homework when Tony returned home. He looked very upset. Jack didn't pry. He only said hello and asked Tony how his day was. Tony sat on the couch and poked out his lower lip, folding his arms across his chest and staring gloomily into the living room horizon. "Tony? What's wrong?" said Jack.
"Nothing," lied Tony.
"Something going on at school?"
"No."
Jack sighed. He knew Tony was lying but trying to pull answers from him was a waste of time. "Fine," said Jack. "I'll be doing my homework at the table if you need me."
Jack hadn't taken one step when Tony said, "Nobody likes me."
Jack turned around. "What do you mean?"
"I mean nobody likes me. At school. They all think I'm a nerd and a teacher's pet."
Jack shrugged. "That's their problem, then. Not yours."
Tony's eyes rolled up to meet Jack's. He still had an unpleasant look on his face. Jack shook his head. "Whatever," he said, and returned to his homework. Moments later, a little boy joined him at the table and silently watched as he did his homework. Jack smirked to himself. Tony didn't return home from school upset after that.
Jack drove slowly down the wet street for the second time that night. He peered out of the window, searching. No luck. Jack turned around the corner and started to drive slowly down that street for what must have been the fifth time. He had a mind to pull over and call someone—his stepfather, his mother, the police—but what good would that be if he still had a chance of finding him? Jack drove his car onto another one-way street and continued to drive slowly by the sidewalk.
Suddenly, he stopped the car. He saw a small body on the ground at the end of the road. Jack drove the car up closer to the body, stopped, and jumped out. Tony was lying unconscious in the rain. Jack placed his hands on the boy's shoulders. "Tony? Tony? Can you hear me? Are you okay?"
Tony didn't respond.
"Tony?" He remained still. Jack dug through his stepbrother's pockets to see if anything had been taken. No—his keys were still in his pocket, as was his wallet, which was usually full of nothing after lunch. Jack sighed and observed Tony for a moment. There was no sign that he had been harmed. He was only wet and unconscious. Jack placed one of his hands on Tony's forehead. "Oh, God," he whispered. Tony was running a fever. Jack picked up his stepbrother and carried him to the car. He placed the boy in the passenger's seat, then hopped into the car himself and sped to the hospital.
The doctor diagnosed Tony with pneumonia. His father was notified and came to the hospital hours later, ready to take him home. Jack objected. Who was going to take care of him? Both his father and his stepmother were too busy to stay at home and look after him, and Jack had school.
School, it seemed, was more expendable than work. Jack was ordered to stay at home and look after his stepbrother while he recovered. It wasn't as if Jack was totally opposed to taking care of his stepbrother—he seemed to be the only one who really cared about the boy, but Jack had obligations at school that would make him too distracted. He had tons of make-up work to do, and now that he was homebound for two weeks, an English student to tutor.
Her name was Teri. She was very pretty.
She came by during the second week to see Jack struggling with a new batch of flowers, cards, and candies children and teachers from Tony's school had sent. As she scanned the get-well wishes strewn across the couch, she laughed. Jack closed the door behind him and faced Teri. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing," she said, and sat down next to an oversized card. "How have you been, Jack?"
"Okay. Rushed, but okay."
"And your stepbrother?"
"Still sick, but feeling much better. I think he'll be able to go to school next week. Poor kid."
Teri laughed again. "Poor kid! Well, two weeks off from school…that isn't bad. That's a whole spring break, isn't it?"
Jack chuckled. "Something like that. Would you like to meet him?"
"Tony? Well…I guess." Teri's eyes darted away from Jack as she thought about the answer. She quickly flashed her bright, friendly blue eyes back in Jack's direction. Her smile both put him at ease and disease. Grinning, he walked to the kitchen and heated a bowl of canned chicken soup and poured orange juice into a glass. Teri watched from outside the kitchen, her slender fingers lightly tapping against the counter top that divided the kitchen from the dining room. Jack gingerly placed the hot bowl on a tray, then placed the glass of orange juice next to it.
"C'mon," said Jack. She followed him upstairs and into Tony's room. Jack's stepbrother was up watching television. "Hey, Tony," said Jack as he entered the room. Tony quickly turned the television off and stared eagerly at Jack as he approached with the tray. Jack placed the tray on the boy's lap and watched as he enthusiastically—after a quick prayer—devoured his chicken soup. It took him a while to notice that someone else was in the room. Noticing that Tony had spotted Teri, Jack said, "Tony, I want you to meet a friend of mine from school. This is Teri."
Teri waved.
"I'm her tutor."
"Hi, Tony," said Teri. "I heard you were sick. Are you feeling better?"
"Yes," said Tony. He ate another spoonful of the soup and said, "Are you Jack's girlfriend?"
Jack laughed nervously. "No, she's not my girlfriend. I told you I tutored her."
"Oh," said Tony. "You need a girlfriend."
Teri smiled. "I'm not sure this is any of your business but…there are a lot of girls at school who like Jack. I think he should have a girlfriend by now." Teri paused. "So, you like chicken soup?"
Tony nodded vigorously.
"I can make you some homemade chicken soup if you want. I make good chicken soup."
"Really?" asked Tony.
"Yes. My mom taught me. It's about the only thing I'm good at, cooking. Cooking chicken soup, at least. So…do you want me to make you some chicken soup?"
"Okay," said Tony.
Teri returned with her chicken soup a couple of days later. Tony loved it, and he loved Teri and looked forward to her visits. She came by their house even when she wasn't scheduled to meet Jack for tutoring. It goes without saying that Tony automatically had an invitation to Teri and Jack's wedding—one of the last times Tony publicly acknowledged that he and Jack were stepbrothers.
Despite's Jack's efforts to be kind to Tony even after he had moved out of the house, Tony chose to distance himself from Jack. He visited Jack and Teri often, perhaps just to check up on Teri and Kim more than on Jack. They never talked much when they were by themselves. Their conversation, if they had any, was punctuated by long, silent pauses, in which Tony took more interest in things other than Jack. Jack never understood why Tony behaved that way, and if he were to be honest with himself, he'd admit that Tony's distance hurt.
Tony continued to ignore Jack when they both began to work at CTU, as if they were strangers. Jack knew things were different outside of work, but Tony's interest was increasingly becoming slanted towards Teri and Kim. Never was that bias more apparent than during Jack's separation from Teri. Tony refused to speak to Jack then, and refused to speak to Jack after he had reconciled with Teri and Tony had begun to date Nina. Tony saw Jack as a manifestation of everything he hated about his family life. He wanted to separate himself from his past as much as he could. It was for Jack to separate himself from Tony like Tony had separated himself from Jack. He had mistakenly believed that his experience at home made them brothers. Survivors. Tony obviously didn't feel that way. So Jack let Tony be.
Tony never spoke to Jack outside CTU until after Teri's death. He apologized for being so cold and distant before, and said that he wasn't comfortable with the idea of everyone knowing they were stepbrothers. He feared that what happened to Teri and Kim would happen to one of them, that their relationship was a professional weakness that could be used against them. Jack disagreed—there was a difference between themselves and Jack's wife and daughter. They understood the risk. They accepted it. If one of them were being used to stop the other from doing his job, the other would not back down, for they both understood the risks. It was hard for Tony to accept that logic.
Only Tony's wife, Michelle, knew about Jack and Tony's relationship. She never told anyone; she kept it a secret. And for his part, Tony did, as well, never letting on that he and Jack were anything more than coworkers. There were times when Jack accepted this, too, when he acknowledged the coldness as sound and went on behaving as if he had never fed Tony chicken soup before. There were times when Jack acknowledged Tony as an obstacle and not as a brother, when he would knock him down and criticize him, when Tony would deride Jack and criticize him and act as if he had hated Jack his entire life. There were times when Jack believed, and feared, that those feelings were real.
But sometimes, when Jack was at home, browsing through his book collection, his finger falling on a tatted copy of The War of the Worlds, he remembered. They were brothers.